A school pupil claims she was forced to work alone in a 'cupboard' after her mother sent her to school in the wrong shoes because she could not afford new ones.

Charlotte Owen, a single parent of four on
benefits, claims she sent a note to school with her daughter Lauren, explaining she would be without the regulation shoes for a short time until
she was paid and could afford to buy a new pair.

But Miss Owen said her daughter was put in 'isolation' - a room where children work in silence - for a
full day at the secondary school in Wrexham because she was wearing baseball boots.

Isolation: Lauren Owen, 15, with her mother Charlotte. The girl was forced to work in a cupboard because she wore the wrong shoes for school

Then, when the 'isolation' room was full, she was forced to work alone in a storage cupboard for an hour, she said.

Lauren said: 'The cupboard is about a metre by 1.5m and it’s got a little desk, a chair... and they had shelves.'

'There are genuine circumstances, at times, when they are not at fault.'

Miss Owen said she visited the school the following morning, saw the cupboard, and said the school was 'very apologetic'

He called for clarity 'about what guidance the Welsh government is giving education authorities about how to deal with situations - increasingly now of course - where families find it economically difficult maybe to meet some demands in terms of rules and school clothes etcetera and how they advise education authorities about how to deal with those situations.

'And then, obviously, how education authorities make sure that that’s reflected in the way that they operate.'

Nobody from Wrexham council was available for comment.

The Welsh government said in a statement: 'School uniform policy is ultimately a matter for the individual school and its governing body, but Welsh government guidance is clear that cost considerations should be a priority.

'No school uniform should be so expensive as to leave pupils or their families feeling unable to apply for admission or attend a particular school.'